One Rose
by MisplacedEmotion
Summary: When you escape to the World for a salvation from the real world, what do you do when the World starts giving you more real life situations than you want?


"It does look like a rose, doesn't it?"

Most would assume that building tops were never the best places to

relax. Those most people are right, however, and everyone else who

disagreed probably hadn't seen the pigeons yet, but that is for

another tale. Two lonely figures lay resting on a particularly

despicable building top, as aforementioned. It was also a rather

horrendously beautiful day. These two lonely figures lay there under

the horrendously fabulous sky, in a fantabulously inexplicable world,

staring into the endless oceans of space hovering like a bloated

possum above them. Distasteful.

One of these two lonely figures happened to be a rather lanky boy, of British

blood, known simply as "Meji" (Pronounced "Mez-E). It was an odd name,

but suitable, for some god-forsaken reason.

Meji seemed to be nothing special. He wasn't a large risk taker,

even though he was constantly spearheaded into dangerous situations.

There was another lonely and odd character on this roof with Meji, a

rather lanky girl, almost a head taller than Meji. Her name was, also,

simply "Ceran" (Pronounced "Se-RAN"). A very obscure femme, Ceran

was, and never one for the tried-and-true straight answer.

Introductions are always quite tricky, fortunately, you don't seem to be bothering our friends right now. Anyway, back on task.

Ceran gave a little shrug. "Yes, it does look like a rose, which is

what I first pointed out. Your echo was nice, though."

"Why are we here, Cer? This isn't like you. At least, as far as I

dare to know you by, anyway," replied Meji a bit airily.

"Why are we staring at clouds? Why are we trying to discern shapes

from said clouds?"

If you didn't already assume how the friends were lying about, they

happened to be lying down on this particular building, Ceran with her

hands behind her head, lounging absently, and Meji a few feet away, a

bit disturbed at the moment. Ceran sighed again, as she usually did

when she needed something to fill her speech gaps.

"I've joined the World, Meji."

"Should I ask why you did?"

"Do you think you should?"

After his silent response, Ceran sat up, clutching her knees to her chest.

"Mej, I joined because I needed to get away. Far away."

Naturally, and predictably, Meji replied with his airy way he saved

for Ceran. "What is there to get away from that we haven't already ran

screaming away from, Cer? The only thing else we could do is bury

ourselves 6 feet in the ground, and I am still uncertain that will get

us anywhere, alive, at least."

"But Meji, don't you see yet? The World is a salvation. Somewhere

were we do indeed belong. It may be a pixelated fantasy world, but it

can be our fantasy. Haven't you always wondered how the other side of

life was?" debated Ceran.

Meji pondered this. After a moment of wasted thought, he commented,  
"Yes. I have wondered, but is this really the answer? Can a simple

video game give us a sanctuary?"

"We don't know unless we try" grinned Ceran.

Meji also sat up, a bit tired of being disturbed. Instead, he

practiced being disinterested in what Ceran was saying. In this, he

was failing miserably.

Meji kicked a bit of dirt about. "But, I mean, where are you

insinuating we will get the money from to actually buy The World?

Putting it lightly, we are flat broke."

Ceran blinked. "We can always test drive the game. What's there to lose?"

Meji thought about this. Down at the local video game/drug dealer

outpost, there had been some flyers asking for people to rent out

copies of The World to test run. Of course, it was most likely some

hack-ed up scheme, but as mentioned, was there anything to lose?

"Hm...Is it really wise to do this? I mean...-"

Ceran cut him off. "That's enough out of you, Mej. Here is what I am

laying for you: I will exist in the World, and whether you follow or

not is a decision I will attempt not to influence."

With that, and before Meji could attempt feebly to protest, Ceran

opened the door leading downstairs, and walked off down the stairs,

heading down her own path. Meji stood up, walking to the edge of the

building, and watched as Ceran faded into the distance, taking herself

step by step to the game that would continue to change her forever.

* * *

The following conversation transpired between Meji and Ceran a few 

hours after Ceran had left the dirty building top to search for an

even dirtier game. It was a very quiet seven o'clock in the evening

at Meji's household, (if you'd like to call it that) unless you count

the sudden ringing of the phone in the downstairs hall. Bounding down

the steps, Meji came running to the phone.

Ring, Ring

**Meji:** Hello, Yes?

**Ceran: **Obviously, you haven't gone upstairs and looked at your computer yet.

**Meji:** Am I that obvious?

**Ceran:** ...For your sake, I won't answer that

**Meji:** sounds of movement, phone clicks off. After a moment, phone

clicks on again

**Meji:** Oh god, Ceran, how did you do this...?

**Ceran:** Heh, heh, you should change your computer password more often

**Meji:** You installed The World...And the software...And the headset...

**Ceran**: Please log in already. I would love for you to join me.

**Meji:** Er, all right...

Meji clicked the phone down on the receiver. He looked around. In

his stunned stupor, he did not realize he was now in his room,

fondling with the game pad for his new copy of The World. He dropped

the pad out of shock, thought a bit, and decided that he did not trust

his thoughts. As he contemplated this, he turned on his computer to

cover up his stupidity. There it was. How Ceran had snuck in and

installed this was beyond him, but if it really mattered was another

useless tale. Meji awed at the headset that came with his new game.

It looked like it fitted over one's head, as if some sort of visor.

Since reading the manual, he knew what he had to do now.

Launching the World Icon from his desktop, Meji slipped the visor

type object over his face, and immediatly, he could see a black

screen, telling him to log in with a name and password.

"Hm...What to choose, what to choose..." he thought.

Contemplating the name, he entered the first bunch of letters that

entered his head. Now, his login was complete.

**Register Name:**_Aerin_

** Password: ((This shouldn't be revealed, right?))****  
**

With that, Meji started his journey into his new life...

* * *

_**((Note, once in the World, I will refer to all the characters as**_

_**their logged in names. Do not get confused))**_

Aerin ported into the world, through the traditional two-yellow

ring animation. It was a strange town, but if he heard correctly, this

was the "Root Town," Aqua Capital Mac Anu, or something like that.

Delta server, is it? It didn't matter.

Aerin appeared in his yellow rings holding a strange looking staff. He was clad in a queer outfit,

looking like a large cloak, with many gray and white-cerulean hues

about his outfit. He figured he was a sorcerer of some sort. What was

it called? Ah, WaveMaster. Yes, he was most definitely a WaveMaster.

Aerin looked around anxiously. "I never realized there were so many

people here..." he thought silently.

Suddenly, he felt a tapping on his right arm. He spun wildly to

face the poker, but fell over onto his face, as he lost his balance.

"Oomf!" he cried, as he hit the ground forehead first.

"Yes. Definatley Meji." the mysterious poker said.

Aerin looked up. A rather tall girl stood before him, two blades

attached to her wrists by means of a bracelet. Dressed in a light

suit of leather armor, her stomach exposed, she looked rather

fabulous. Two dark grey markings trailed from her eyes, like a layer

of tears.

Looking down to hide his blushing face, Aerin said (in a muffled

tone), "Hello, Ceran. I believe you should call me 'Aerin' in this

game. Isn't that In Character?"

"Oh, right, well," Ceran puffed up her chest in a bit of a show

off way, "I am Yixi, the Twin Blade!" Yixi gave the face-down Aerin a

strange look. "Oh, and you must be Aerin, the Face Down WaveMaster of

ConcretesVille"

Aerin let out a sigh of annoyance and sat up, cross legged, on

the pavement. "Aerin, the WaveMaster. That's all there is to it."

He sighed again, looking up at Yixi. She had a happy, almost

intoxicating grin on her face, and she looked absolutely happy. Did

the World really have this sort of effect on such a usually sadistic

girl?

Yixi quirked a head to one side, a puzzled look on her face.

"Aerin, what's wrong? You look...confused, or maybe you have

indigestion. Or some sick combination of the two?" She played a bit

with her blades.

"Er, Yixi..."

"Yes?"

"...Nevermind..."

Shrugging, Yixi hooked her arm onto Aerin's right elbow, and

dragged him to his feet. "Come on," she coaxed, "There's so much I

want to see!"

And with that, the two friends went running off into a hidden

future of adventure and madness.

* * *

_**((The story is now over. Here are some comments from the author and our characters))**_

**Ceran:** Yixi. That's an interesting name, eh Mej?

**Meji:** Very much. Aerin sounds a bit female to me though...

**Ceran:** Oh, don't be like that. I would've taken that name in a second.

**Meji:** I guess...

**Ceran: -hugs Meji**- It is a great name! By the way, what was with the blushing earlier?

**Meji:** **-backs away- **Erm, I have to go do that...thing. Over there... **-jogs away-**

**Ceran:** Hey you! Come back here! **-chases Meji-**

**Meji:** Ah! Get away! **-sounds of struggle**-

**Ceran: -yelling towards the audience- **Go away already!


End file.
